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The urban lab is an experimental governance approach for the co-creation of innovative solutions to urban challenges, such as climate change. However, urban lab scholarship has overlooked lab formation as a distinct process and is almost exclusively based on European cases. Therefore, little is known about the role of context conditions for lab formation in general and beyond Europe in particular. To address these gaps, this paper inductively analyses urban lab formation in five cities in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, develops a framework for the comparative analysis of lab formation challenges, and asks: What do the challenges encountered and the solutions developed during lab formation in these cities tell us about the context dependence of the urban lab approach and what are the implications for its potential beyond Europe? Comparing insights from Europe to the findings from Latin America, the paper answers these questions and identifies future research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to present an innovative approach to addressing the challenges of smart mobility exploiting digital twins within the METACITIES initiative. We have worked on this issue due to the increasing complexity of urban transportation systems, coupled with the urgent need to improve efficiency, safety, and sustainability in cities. The work presented in this paper is part of the project METACITIES, an Excellence Hub that spans a large geographical area, that of Southeastern Europe. The approach of the Greek innovation ecosystem of METACITIES involves leveraging digital twin technology to create intelligent replicas of urban mobility environments, enabling real-time monitoring, analysis, and decision making. Through use cases such as "Smart Parking", "Environmental Behavior Analysis on Traffic Incidents", and "Emergency Management", we demonstrate how digital twins can optimize traffic flow, mitigate environmental impact, and enhance emergency response; these use cases will be tested on a small scale, before deciding on implementation at a larger and more expensive scale. The final outcome is the METACITIES Architecture for smart mobility, which will be part of an Open Digital Twin Framework capable of evolving a smart city into a metacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Positive Energy District Database (PED DB), a pivotal web tool developed collaboratively by the COST Action 'PED-EU-NET', in alignment with international initiatives such as JPI Urban Europe and IEA EBC Annex 83. The PED DB represents a crucial step towards sharing knowledge, promoting collaboration, reinforcing decision-making, and advancing the understanding of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) in the pursuit of sustainable urban environments. The PED DB aims to comprehensively map and disseminate information on PEDs across Europe, serving as a dynamic resource for sustainable urban development according to the objective of making the EU climate-neutral by 2050. Indeed, PEDs imply an integrated approach for designing urban areas—the districts—where a cluster of interconnected buildings and energy communities produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions, managing an annual local/regional overflow production of renewable energy. The paper describes the collaborative step-by-step process leading to the PED DB implementation, the current results and potentials of the online platform, and introduces its future developments towards a more user-friendly and stakeholders-tailored tool. The interactive web map offers a customizable visualizations and filters on multiple information related to PED case studies, PED-relevant cases, and PED Labs. Users can access detailed information through a table view, facilitating comparisons across different PED projects and their implementation phase. The paper offers insights and detailed analysis from the initial dataset that includes 23 PED cases and 7 PED-related projects from 13 European countries, highlighting the key characteristics of surveyed PEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The premise of our research paper is that large (by the size of the population) municipalities are more complex to govern and manage, and this, in turn, calls for a more professional and apolitical local government. Using data from the largest European survey of mayors, we analyzed the influence of mayors and chief administrative officers in Europe and checked for correlations with the size of the local government. We present empirical evidence to support that the perceived influence of mayors varies with the size of the municipality regardless of the institutional configuration of power relationships. We found that very large municipalities (80,000 or more inhabitants) had weaker mayors. The presumption that a larger, more complex local (urban) environment calls for more professional leadership has been addressed in numerous publications; however, the answer was usually beyond the reach of the empirical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is on the political agenda as one of the main objectives in order to respond to the increasing degradation processes affecting soils and territories. Nevertheless, proper implementation of environmental policies is very difficult due to a lack of the operational, reliable and easily usable tools necessary to support political decisions when identifying problems, defining the causes of degradation and helping to find possible solutions. It is within this framework that this paper attempts to demonstrate a new valuable web-based operational LDN tool as a component of an already running Spatial Decision Support System (S-DSS) developed on a Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure (GCI). The tool could be offered to EU administrative units (e.g., municipalities) so that they may better evaluate the state and the impact of land degradation in their territories. The S-DSS supports the acquisition, management and processing of both static and dynamic data, together with data visualization and on-the-fly computing, in order to perform modelling, all of which is potentially accessible via the Web. The land degradation data utilized to develop the LDN tool refer to the SDG 15.3.1 indicator and were obtained from a platform named Trends.Earth, designed to monitor land change by using earth observations, and post-processed to correct some of the major artefacts relating to urban areas. The tool is designed to support land planning and management by producing data, statistics, reports and maps for any EU area of interest. The tool will be demonstrated through a short selection of practical case studies, where data, tables and stats are provided to challenge land degradation at different spatial extents. Currently, there are WEBGIS systems to visualize land degradation maps but—to our knowledge—this is the first S-DSS tool enabling customized LDN reporting at any NUTS (nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) level for the entire EU territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-Based Solutions concepts and practices are being used worldwide as part of attempts to address societal challenges but have also been criticised for not dealing with deeper transformations needed to face urgent issues including biodiversity loss, climate change and inclusion. In this paper, we explore how an inclusive, integrated and long-sighted approach, emphasising a more radical integration of nature within cities, might support the transformations needed to endure major contemporary challenges. Addressing important emerging critiques of Nature-Based Solutions, we consider the potential of a more incisive form of Nature-Based Thinking (NBT) in cities, based on more holistic perspectives. The paper draws on a reflective and iterative research process that engaged both the research and practice communities through a symposium and a series of futures workshops that together explored the potential of NBT to develop future nature-cities relations in Europe and Latin America. The results of the reflective process suggest that notions of nature with people—not for people— new organisational structures, and the intention and capacity to apply long-term perspectives, are needed when planning for NBS interventions aimed at sustainable urban development. This includes developing a cultural-structural change based on new and inclusive understandings of human–nature relations, and novel governance paradigms that allow cross-sectoral coordination and engagement of local stakeholders beyond formal organisational structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European cities, railway stations have become urban hubs in which a variety of functions and uses are focused. These include retail, cafés, offices and housing. They are often also complemented by adjacent amenity open space, in both hard and soft landscaping, alongside a broader provision for other modes, such as public transport, walking and cycling. In this sense, large-scale transport hubs resemble small-scale city centres and, like other urban centres, the public space in stations should meet the needs of a wide range of users. The design and management of railway stations is highly complex and the risk of such nodes failing as quality public spaces is significant. In addition, railway stations play a pivotal role in encouraging public transport use and they have the potential to contribute to a modal shift from more polluting transport modes. We argue that the design and management of such spaces is a key variable in the modal choices many travellers make. Based on empirical research across Europe, this paper presents a set of indicators for assessing the quality of railway stations and their adjacent areas and summarizes our research findings to increase the attractiveness of rail journeys through enhanced public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of the bike-sharing industry traditionally focus on its effects on other markets, municipalities, or general well-being. This paper deviates from this on how the market is organised. Using information on the aggregate number of firms in cities and greater cities across Europe, we found non-proportional changes in market size with respect to changes in market structure. This is crucial information inferring changes in profits, costs, or degree of product differentiation. To distinguish between these three sources, we utilised additional firm-level data on capacity and type of service provided. Our results suggest that the non-proportional increase in market size after an entry is most likely associated with increased intensity of competition and new forms of offered services, i.e. product differentiation. We did not find evidence that newcomers have been entering with substantially larger capacities per capita compared to incumbents. From a policy perspective, entry into the bike-sharing industry has benefited consumers through market expansion and caused a potential decrease in profits. • A non-proportional market size increase after the entry of the second and third firms. • No association for entry barriers; no entries with larger capacity. • Increases likely associated with differentiation: entrants likely dockless or e-bikes. • Entry and competition benefited consumers through market expansion and may decrease profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive energy district (PED) is a rather recent concept that aims to contribute to the main objectives of the Energy Union strategy. It is based on an integrated multi-sectoral approach in response to Europe's most complex challenges. But to what extent have its development and implementation been supported by research and innovation programs? And what is the state of the art of its implementation and effective penetration into the current energy systems of European cities, according to the evidence provided by the scientific literature? This study aims to investigate these issues, providing a critical overview of the PED situation by means of a systematic literature review based on the use of open-access bibliometric software supplemented with content analysis. The results show that less than half of the documents analyzed refer to actual case studies, 80% of which were funded as part of research projects. This seems to lead to the conclusion that although PEDs have been strongly encouraged by the scientific community and policy initiatives at the European level, their implementation in cities is still limited. Moreover, an uneven distribution among countries can be observed. To overcome the existing barriers to PED diffusion and implementation, it would be useful to provide more ad hoc funding and, above all, facilitate its accessibility also by municipalities not yet well integrated into European projects, initiatives, and networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities and fringes are often characterised by neglected heritages that affect the perceived quality of life in the territories, especially when it comes to industrial sites. Some studies suggest that their regeneration with social innovation fosters a greater feeling of belonging to the place, creates new socio-cultural activities and new jobs, and increases ground rent. Does this create territorial innovation? What are the impacts of S.I. and T.I. generated by regeneration? This paper aims to assess the average social and territorial innovation impacts of industrial heritage regeneration in cities and fringes and to test the hypothesis of a correlation between them. A mixed methods approach has been adopted with semi-structured telephonic interviews, data analysis, and comparison. 100 examples of industrial heritage regeneration in Europe, equally located in cities and fringes, were analysed. This research offers a novel theoretical contribution to the international literature, corroborating that social innovation plays a vital role in the territorial innovation of cities and fringes. The results show that the greater the social innovation, the higher the level of territorial innovation. Furthermore, this study confirms that innovation depends on location, new uses and regeneration model. These results contribute to the body of knowledge and open new research opportunities in theories and practice for territorial innovation and industrial heritage urban regeneration with social innovation. [Display omitted] • Industrial heritage regeneration with social innovation is a driver for territorial innovation. • Three models of industrial heritage regeneration are identified. • Social innovation and territorial innovation are correlated. • The average impact of social and territorial innovation is higher in ecosystemic models. • The average impact of social and territorial innovation is slightly higher in cities than in fringes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]